Evelyn Stevens Thinks It’s High Time You Listened

The pro peloton's fastest-rising star sat down with us last week at Specialized-lululemon's team training camp in Portugal and spoke candidly about disparity, doping, and why, no matter what, she’ll always love bike racing.james starttDecember 21, 2012

Bicycling: Your journey from Wall Street to the summit of cycling has been well documented. We often talk about the lessons cycling gives about life, but in your case I am curious: Is there any one thing that Wall Street gave you that has really helped your cycling?

Evelyn Stevens: Both cycling and Wall Street are really hard work, almost obsessive. So coming into bike racing I was like, “Oh, this makes sense.” Wall Street, for example, really makes you pay attention to detail. I remember after my first PowerPoint presentation I was criticized, and told, “This box doesn’t line up to that box,” a detail that I wouldn’t have imagined in a thousand years really mattered. And that is very similar to cycling. I still have tons of improvement to make in time-trialing. But there is so much attention to detail, from the helmet you wear to the boots. And I am learning.

That said, today my life is filled with joy, and I don’t think I would have said that before. The number one comment I get from people that haven’t seen me in a couple of years is, “I can’t get over how happy you seem.”

Wall Street talks about numbers, and there is a lot of talk about numbers in women’s cycling this year in terms of parity and exposure compared with the men’s side of the sport. Have you thought about ways that there can be more parity between the two sides?

You can harp on the negative and the fact that we don’t get paid a lot. But I prefer to focus on the positive. Personally I always like to see the glass half full. Ever since I started racing, I have seen the sport move in the right direction.

One way to keep moving in the right direction is to [follow the example of] events like the Flèche-Wallonne, where there is also a women’s race. That’s a good way to get women more exposure. I actually think women’s cycling is more beautiful [than men’s] because it is less predictable. Look at the Olympic Games road race or the World Championships or the Flèche-Wallonne. It is just 140 kilometers of racing from the gun.

It’s funny, after I won Flèche this year I went into the media room. It was packed, but only two journalists wanted to talk to me. Now, I know there are some interesting guys in the peloton, but most have been racing bikes all of their lives. Women, though, often haven’t, and they have fascinating stories. Some have PhDs, some have kids, some have started companies, and yet they are really good at what they do. So I think the more attention we get, the more those stories will get out there. The number one comment I get in the United States is, “I wish I could watch you race more.”

Before coming here, you were with HTC-Highroad, maybe one of the best examples of parity in cycling. Are there ways to encourage men’s teams to have a women’s team, too?

I’ve thought a lot about it. And I still don’t know, because you don’t want a team that doesn’t want women. The thing about HTC is that Bob [Stapleton, the team manager] respected us and so the leadership respected us, everyone did.

I train with guys all of the time in Boulder. I am really close to the Phinney family and with them there is no difference. Taylor got a silver medal at the World Championships and I got a silver medal and there is no feeling that mine is worth less because I am a woman. We both have the same coach. We both train really hard.

I don’t see why the UCI puts a 140-kilometer cap on women’s racing. Perhaps the UCI can explain that to me. But then I think the UCI needs to just evolve. They need to treat us like equals. When I worked on Wall Street, the male analyst investment bankers did not make any more money than me. In cycling, it’s kind of like 1978.

Tennis is a good example of a sport with more parity.

Actually I just did an interview and was asked, “What one sports person would you like to sit down with for lunch?” I said, “Billie Jean King.” I think she really changed the sport.

I don’t know how to change [cycling], but I think people like Kristy [Scrymgeour, Specialized-lululemon team owner] are starting to change it. So are the women on my team and the people at Specialized and at lululemon. But it is definitely going to take being vocal, being active, and being positive. You don’t want to sit there and complain. Like at the Worlds time trial, we got paid a lot less, but do you complain about the prize money or do you focus on the fact that they actually had one for us? For me, it is like, “Let’s take the opportunity to show them what we can do. We’ll focus on other parts after.”